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Colonel Gary Newton Sadler, USAF, Retired

Hixson, Hamilton County, Tennessee

Colonel Gary Sadler, USAF, Ret.

Gary Newton Sadler, son of Elisha Newton "Easy" Sadler and Charlotte Ann LaFerry of Hixson, Tennessee, was born in Chattanooga, Hamilton County, Tennessee. A graduate of Baylor School and the University of the South, Gary graduated from pilot training in 1976 at Webb Air Force Base, Texas. A command pilot, Gary has over 2,900 flying hours in Fighter and fighter-type aircraft including the F-106, F-16 and the OV-10.

During Operation Desert Storm, Lieutenant Colonel Sadler was assigned to the 7440th Combat Wing, Incirlik Air Base in Turkey. Lt. Col. Sadler is a recipient of the Bronze Star and (DFC) Distinguished Flying Cross.

Colonel Sadler has experience as an instructor pilot, was commander of the 34th Student Squadron at the Squadron Officer School in Alabama for two years, and later became the Deputy Director of Student Operations there. From June 2001 to September 2004, he was the vice commander of the 17th Training Wing at Goodfellow AFB, San Antonio, Texas. Some of his other assignments have included Germany, Alabama, England, Italy, Texas, Korea, and Virginia.

After retiring from the Air Force with 30 years of service, Colonel Gary N. Sadler joined the senior staff at the Randolph-Macon Academy in Front Royal, Virginia on July 1, 2005 as a new commandant. The Randolph-Macon Academy, (R-MA), is one of the premier college-prep military schools in the nation, and the only Virginia military school offering Air Force JROTC. Founded in 1892, R-MA is the oldest co-ed boarding school with Air Force JROTC, which encompasses students in grades 9-12.

Colonel Gary Newton Sadler and his wife, Maureen Callaghan have three children; two sons and one daughter.

Ancestral Lineage

Ance stral lineage of Colonel Sadler includes two Methodist ministers: Grandfather, Reverend Jasper Newton Sadler of North Chattanooga and Great-grandfather, Reverend Caelie Newton Sadler of St. Elmo, Tennessee. The Sadler lineages traces back to the founding of the Sadler's Chapel (United Methodist Church) on Sadler's Chapel Road in Red Boiling Springs, Macon County, Tennessee.

Also, Colonel Gary Sadler is a nephew to Red Bank, Tennessee WWII Hero; Joseph Newton Armstrong. Sergeant “Joe” Armstrong was killed in action, a 50 caliber machine gunner on a B-26G Marauder bomber, “Erma”, Battle # 73, Serial # 43-34238, which crash and exploded near Sasbach, Germany. Erma was shot down by a German Luftwaffe fighter plane, a Messerschmitt, Me-109 on December 23, 1944, during the “Battle of the Budge”.

Commandant of the Randolph-Macon Academy

Col. Sadler said he was attracted to R-MA by the Academy’s mission and vision, and also the three pillars upon which the school is founded: knowledge, leadership, and character.

“I want to develop the leaders of tomorrow, and our graduates will be leaders—in their local communities, clubs, churches, and professions,” he said. “The pillars at R-MA are important because there are a lot of people out there who had great knowledge and great wealth, but they didn’t have character and leadership, and they didn’t do the right thing. They hurt a lot of people because of it.”